Epidemiology of Autoimmune Disorders with Special Reference to Rheumatoid Arthritis from a Tertiary Care Center

Background: Autoimmune disorders (AID) are emerging non-communicable diseases and understanding their epidemiology could reveal information about their clinical characteristics and disease management. Objective: To record the different types of arthritis cases attending a tertiary care center and study the profile of rheumatoid arthritis cases. Methods: The different types of arthritis cases reported were recorded from both rheumatologic and orthopaedic units. Retrospectively data was collected from Medical records department. Results and discussion: Totally 1481 cases were taken for the study. The proportion of females getting affected with AID were high and the ratio of female: male was found to be 2.25:1. There were around 30 types of different arthritis cases which are reported. The different types of arthritis were rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (39%), fibromyalgia (13%), spondyloarthropathy (9%), systemic lupus erythematosus (6%), psoriatic arthritis (6%), Sjogren’s syndrome (5%), reactive arthritis (5%), osteoarthritis (3%), and gout (3%). In sub-group analysis of RA patients, female preponderance was observed and the frequent biochemical investigations were erythrocyte sedimentation rate and rheumatoid factor. C-reactive protein, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides, and vitamin D estimations were less frequent. The comorbid conditions were diabetes and hypothyroidism and concominant arthritis were connective tissue disorders, Sjogren’s syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Medication profile revealed polypharmacy with disease modifying antirheumatics, glucocorticoids, analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Conclusion: This study provides basic information of different types of arthritis and RA was found to be the most common. Female preponderance, polypharmacy, comorbid conditions and concominant arthritis may have implications for further research on the disease management.